On their further voyage near another part of the Mexican coast, where is now situated the town of Vera Cruz, the fleet arrived at the Island of Sacrificios, a name that was given to that land in consequence of what was observed to take place there. The island was explored by the Spaniards, and they discovered two Kues made of lime and stone, and ascended by steps. “In these altars,” observes Diaz, “were idols of evil figures which were their gods, and here they had sacrificed on the previous night five Indians. Their breasts were opened and their arms and thighs were cut off and the walls were covered with blood.” It happened that the Chaplain-General of the Fleet wrote an itinerary of this voyage, and he also visited these temples. He mentioned the extraordinary fact of having noticed within one of the shrines “some bordered stuff made of silk, similar to what was worn by the Moors and which were called by them “Almaizales.”[87] At another temple, situated near the coast, four Indian priests were seen, who had lately been performing sacrifices. In this instance they had sacrificed two young boys. Their breasts had been opened and their hearts had been taken out and placed before the idol as an offering. The Spaniards were surprised when they observed that these priests were dressed like Dominicans and wore long cloaks and capes. This, together with their manner of using incense, seemed in some inexplicable degree to resemble the observances of their own monastic fraternities. In the various accounts that have been given by the conquerors concerning the Indians, there is nothing mentioned about the burial customs, and even at the present time the subject is obscure. I was therefore interested in listening to the contractor’s remarks about some discoveries made by his workmen when excavating along the line of road. They found the ruins of several houses. Each of them contained beneath the centre of the principal room a vaulted tomb, in which it was supposed that the proprietor had been buried when he died. They also found, when tracing the direction of the work, several small Kues of pyramidal shapes, around the sides of which were numerous small stone cells. The contractor told me that he had measured and surveyed these carefully. He had come to the conclusion that they were burial places. These discoveries were important, and corroborated in every essential particular the statements of several Indian caciques dwelling beyond Uxmal, in the sixteenth century. They informed the Spanish missionaries that it had been customary, with the common people in Yucatan, to bury their dead either inside their houses or at the back of them. In certain cases they afterwards abandoned these dwellings and moved elsewhere. The bodies of caciques and chiefs were burnt, and the ashes were placed in urns. Small pyramids or temples were sometimes raised over them.[88]